Monday, June 27, 2016

Today's pattern spotlight is a brand new pattern- knitted Manatee. This manatee is the first in my "Summer of Sea Creatures" series. Each pattern will be released on a Monday, and it will be free for that first seven days until the next pattern comes out.

Manatee was such a fun pattern to design, mostly because I got to spend several hours staring at adorable pictures of manatees. Their little cartoonish nostrils, sweet little beardy chins, big round hula hoop sized waistlines- I had a great time making the knitted manatee not only cute, but also pretty accurate, in my opinion. At 10" from nose to tail, he's not tiny, but also totally doable in a day of knitting.

Head on over to ravelry to get your free copy of the manatee pattern now:

Monday, June 6, 2016

This is the beginning of a new series where I spotlight one of my patterns every Monday and offer it for a discounted price via my website. This Monday's pattern spotlight is a pattern I've been knitting a lot of lately- Theodore the Bear. Theodore is a very classically-styled teddy bear. He was designed to invoke thoughts of the teddy bears from the 50's who had jointed limbs and sensible faces. His modern twist is that he's knitted from super chunky yarn to make him not only a quick project but also a trendy look that would blend perfectly with modern nursery design. I love knitting the Theodore pattern because it's really a maximum-impact project. With just a few hours of knitting you have this really substantial bear just bursting with personality.

Theodore is big enough that he looks great with some simple sewn clothes or a nice little knitted scarf. In the past couple of weeks I have been experimenting with doing two-toned Theodores, where his snout is a different color than the rest of him. You can embroider eyes onto your Theodore, or you can use plastic eyes- I would recommend a size 12mm. You could even use this pattern with worsted weight yarn and smaller needles (maybe a size 3 or 4 US) for a pocket-sized bear.

For today and tomorrow, the pattern for Theodore is on sale for just $1.50! That's $2 off the normal price. Be sure to stop by my website to pick it up here:
http://www.yarnigans.com/product/theodore-the-bear-knitting-pattern

Saturday, June 4, 2016

This week has been a busy one for Yarnigans. I've been mixing things up with some fresh new color combos in the Yarnigans shop and sending stock into Handmade at Amazon. I've especially had some fun staging photos. I'm going for a "modern nursery" feel so I started with clearing off my vintage fruit crate shelves in my bathroom (shh, it's supposed to be a nursery, but they're just so photogenic). I grabbed these Puffin Classics books that I picked up super cheap at Ollie's a couple years ago, that have an awesome vintage look with amazing cover illustrations. I stacked up a few play kitchen teacups from Ikea and started to throw some Yarnigans in the mix.

Also - yes! That is a jumbo hedgehog who's been added to the shop. I've made one or two before for friends or kids but I've never made them to sell. We like to call him the huge-hog. The huge-hog won't be sent into Amazon, so if you want one, you're going to have to pick it up at yarnigans.com.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

This post is part of a weekly series called "Things I love Thursday," where I highlight some craftiness that has caught my eye on the internet over the past week. If you have a link to a crafty project you think I would like to feature on Things I love Thursday, send it to me here.
As long as I've been able to knit and crochet, sewing has also had my heart. I don't make time to sew as much as I ought to, but once a month or so I still like to dust off the sewing machine and spend a day sewing kids clothes or blankets, or the occasional project for myself. Sewing is so gratifyingly different from yarn craft. You can spend a relatively small amount of time on something and have this big, complete project that's useful in every day life. It's always nice to take a break from my everyday knitting designing and allow myself to have a project with a clear beginning and ending.

Maybe a year ago, I decided I wanted to learn to quilt. I knew well enough that I didn't have the time to get into hand quilting or any extreme piecing techniques, but I wanted to understand quilt patterns and have that skill. It was at that time that I discovered even the most simple quilt pattern, even when made with my non-matching scrap fabrics and pieces picked up from the remnant bin of my local fabric store, was quite a rewarding experience.

Charlie demonstrates my first quilt's use as a mat on the floor

So for my "things I love" this Thursday, I've chosen these beautiful quilt patterns- give them a look, maybe try sewing on for yourself, and I guarantee you are going to have fun in the process.

The Alphabet Modern quilt pattern by the Quilted Fox is just lovely and I think it would be just as home on a guest bed as it would be hanging on the wall in a little one's room. One of the things I love about this pattern is that I think it would look amazing with just about any combination of scrap fabrics you come up with, whether they seem like they match each other or not. A bunch of non matching fabrics, like scraps from old clothes or just regular renmants you have lying around, would only add to the charm of this one, and the pattern itself it cohesive enough to really make it work.

The House quilt block is definitely the most traditional of the ones featured here, and something I myself am itching to try. I would love to make up one of these a week until I have a whole blanket and I could already see it being the quilt I keep in my living room that the kids drag out to curl up with on the couch.

The Triangle Quilt is the pattern that got me interested in quilting in the first place, and in fact it's the pattern I used to make my quilt, pictured above, under baby Charlie. I know from experience that this is a great pattern, and while it was very simple, I get compliments on it all the time. See Kate Sew even sells a line of fabric through Spoonflower to make a triangle quilt without any piecing at all, if you just want to sew up a quilt-style blanket in an hour or two.

As I go through my fabric stash in preparation for a move to a new house this summer, I definitely anticipate breaking out the rotary cutter and diving into at least one, but probably all three, of these quilting patterns.